The present invention relates to mobile locator systems. More specifically, the present invention relates to a mobile locator system which employs pager and cellular communication, and provides user interface through a network such as the internet.
Various mobile locator systems are known. These systems have been used for a range of different applications. One such application, for example, is stolen vehicle recovery. In order to recover stolen vehicles, a mobile unit is placed in a hidden location in a vehicle and adapted to become active when a vehicle security system detects a theft.
Once engaged, the mobile unit begins acquiring location information typically by acquiring position signals from a global positioning satellite system. The mobile unit then communicates the information to a control center which maps the information and also attempts to notify the vehicle owner in order to verify that a theft has indeed occurred. Upon verification, the control center notifies the authorities and provides position information for the stolen vehicle.
Such conventional mobile locator systems include two components, a locator device and a command center.
The locator device usually comprises a position determination system, and a communication system coupled to the position determination system for communicating the position of the locator device as determined by the position determination system. The position determination system has taken various forms in the past. Known locators have employed various ground based navigational systems such as LORAN-C and other forms of LORAN navigation. Additionally, the position determination systems have more recently begun employing satellite navigation from the NAVSTAR system or GLONASS system or both.
The communication systems employed by locator devices have ranged from radio communication, such as UHF, to cellular communication.
The command centers used in mobile locator systems have traditionally communicated directly with the locator device via RF or cellular communication. Although cellular communication uses radio-frequency communication, it does so on very specific frequencies and through specific networks. Thus, it is listed separately to denote the different nature of cellular communication from traditional RF communication.
The approaches of the prior art are limited. First, traditional approaches are costly, and employ either cellular communication which is relatively expensive, or dedicated radio communications, which is also costly. Even where inexpensive radios are used to communicate the position information, the effective range of such inexpensive radios severely limits the location system. Finally, if users wish to interact with the control center, they generally must be onsite, or within the local calling area of the command center, lest they accumulate substantial long distance telephone charges.